Cleaning and Sanitizing Bottles...OMG

[darkstar79]

I bottled my beer last week ( i thought it tasted good uncarbonated out of the fermenting bucket) and I cleaned my bottles through the dishwasher and with extra cycles of high heat and sani rinse. I am worried since I saw that someone else wrote that they cleaned them with no soap. I DID use regular dishwasher soap- am I going to have a problem?

 

[Rick_R]

Homebrewer_99 (re: pump washer/Star San):
Comments anyone??

Mine foams a fair amount, but it's just foam. As I've seen posted here before, "don't fear the foam."

Rick

 

[homebrewer_99]

Don't get me wrong...I don't fear the foam...I think it's just messy to deal with and prefer to sanitize my bottles with Iodophor. This way I don't have to keep collecting the faom and tossing it back into the bucket...

 

[fermenator]

I've tried Starsan through this contraption and really prefer to use Iodophor instead because it doesn't foam all over the place after only 5 bottles...

Comments anyone??

How much of an iodophor/water mix do you use in the vinator? I just purchased one and i'm not sure how much to fill it and how much iodophor to use.

Thanks!

 

[blacklab]

1) use 22'ers
2) rinse after drinking-hot water in the sink. Sniff test to see if they are clean.
3) on bottle day, put in d/washer with hot dry on
4) bottle

I have never used santizer on my bottles before bottling and have never had an issue with this method.

That being said - I just bought three corny kegs. Bottling gets ooooold.

 

[Mutilated1]

Here's what I do and its pretty easy. After I pour myself a beer I rinse the yeast sediment out with warm water. Then if its a bottle that has a label, I set it aside till I have a sink full of label bottles to soak the labels off. If it doesn't have a label or I''ve soaked the label off then I put it in the diswasher and wash it along with the glasses and dishes. Then I put the clean bottle into a carboard six holder and put it away till bottling day.

Then on bottling day, I fill the diswasher up with bottles only and wash them all at once a second time and I use oxy-clean instead of dishwasher detergent. I give em a second rinse and then let em dry in the diswasher rack till I'm ready to put beer in 'em.

 

[Bulls Beers]

I clean my bottles as soon as they are empty and store them in a rubbermaid container to keep them as clean as possible. On bottling day all I do is pull them out of the rubbermaid and sanitize them.

+1..I stick them in one step solution for a minute or so, rinse and let dry on a bottle tree. Sometimes I put them in my dishwasher, when it's emply and set it on hot hot hot..That's easy.I started Kegging recently.That's much easier...

 

[PseudoChef]

My bottles don't even touch sanitizer. They get rinsed out after they're empty and on bottling day, I just put them in the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle.

 

[Rick_R]

I think it's just messy to deal with and prefer to sanitize my bottles with Iodophor

Yeah, but then you can't slide-skate in the kitchen after sanitizing the bottles. Where's the fun in that?

Rick

 

[AZ_Brew_Dude]

For my first attempt at bottling, I rinsed existing bottles as I drank them - they were poured into a glass, never drank directly from them. On bottling day I put them all in the dishwasher and ran on the highest temperature cycle with the sanitize feature. I didn't even remove any of the labels, and a good amount of them fell off, but I didn't have any problems with them "cooking" on the heating element like someone else had mentioned. Once the cycle was done, I bottled directly and didn't use StarSan. The beer turned out fine.

Just a few comments:
1.) Many people have commented about the inconvenience of the foaming action of StarSan. Has anyone tried Saniclean? I think it's even made by the same company - the advantage is that there's no foam, disadvantage is that it requires a slightly longer contact time. I haven't tried it yet, but sounds interesting.

2.) The dishwasher method seems to work, but I'm wondering how well the insides of the bottle actually get washed. With the narrow openings, I doubt they get rinsed very well. I think we're mainly relying on the high temperature and sanitize function of the dishwasher. As long as they were rinsed pretty well before being put in the dishwasher I guess it's OK. Any comments?

3.) How many people have used the oven baking method described earlier? I might give that one a try for my next batch.

 

[kappclark]

I think the bottle washer/pump was the BIGGEST time saver for samitizing all those bottles

Another hint - try bottling in 22 oz bottles (bombers) .. half the time half the number of bottles (roughly) ..

But it IS a chore, no question ... once you have them cleaned the first time, then be sure to rinse right sfter using them, then store on the tree, or in a clean container.

Clean THEN sanitize ..

 

[Junebug]

I clean my bottles after use and keep them covered up...when bottling day arrives, I pop them all into the dishwasher, put them through a normal wash with a heated dry. It's fairly easy. I pull them from the dishwasher as needed while bottling.

 

[Neomich]

2.) The dishwasher method seems to work, but I'm wondering how well the insides of the bottle actually get washed. With the narrow openings, I doubt they get rinsed very well. I think we're mainly relying on the high temperature and sanitize function of the dishwasher. As long as they were rinsed pretty well before being put in the dishwasher I guess it's OK. Any comments?
QUOTE]

When I run mine through the dishwasher, I'm not relying or expecting them to be cleaned. They're cleaned after I pour them out into a glass. I haven't had any problems as long as I rinse them all well.

Beer is mostly water. The yeast converts between 70 - 80% of the original sugars into alcohol as well so you've basically got a bottle full of water and alcohol with a small amount of sugars. It's not hard to keep a bottle 'clean' when it's job is to store that type of liquid. However, it is not possible to be too sanitary when brewing.

You have to find a balance between sanitation and time requirement that you are comfortable with. Even then, since it's bottled, more than likely it will be limited to one bottle if an issue did occur. You'll still have plenty of beer!

 

[BrooZer]

If they are lable free and clean just bake those MF'ers.


In how to brew, Palmer says that if you cover them with tin foil caps pre bake they will remain sterile.

Just be sure to let them warm up with the stove and cool down with it as well. you dont want to shock the glass.

350 for an hour.

 

[Skins_Brew]

Has anyone ever used the 22oz ceramic swingtop bottles? Is there a greater risk of those exploding?

 

[Rick_R]

Has anyone ever used the 22oz ceramic swingtop bottles? Is there a greater risk of those exploding?

Never used them but considered them because I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) with the swing top there would be enough give to avoid a bottle bomb more than a capped bottle. By that, I'm assuming the ceramic top would "lift" a tad to release pressure if it go near the explosion point. Could be totally off base, though.

Rick

 

[BrooZer]

I use the 32s and they are pretty heafty.

 

[Skins_Brew]

I am not sure of my stance on the 22oz ceramics. Maybe i will fill one up next time i bottle. The swing tops of these are still hard plastic. They are thicker then glass bottles but i dont know if they are as strong. I might break one open tomorrow to see if the inside is glazed or not. I cant really tell from looking inside it with a flashlight. If the inside is not glazed, then i would assume the porous ceramic would be an ideal spot for bacteria to hide out and would make sanitizing them a PITA. They look pretty cool though and would be a pretty good unique gift if i spray painted the rogue logo off and filled it with homebrew.

 

[Buzzy]

I rince my bottles after every beer I pour. If they have labels I soak them in Oxyclean until they fall off. Then I rinse the he** out of them. I cut the round hoop off my bottle brush and I put the brush on my cordless drill. This will clean any bottle!!! Rinse again. Then I take a long plastic wall paper paste tray and fill it with one step and water. It will hold about 6 bottles. I soak them for a few minutes the bottle there after. Hope this helps.

 

[sps_lokesh]

Hi,I am lokesh.Conflicting information from well meaning friends is often confusing. Is it safe to use dish detergent? Should I boil nipples and bottles? How often should I do so? What about bleach? Is it a safe way to sanitize my baby's bottles and nipples? What are the dangers of not properly cleaning and sanitizing bottles?
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Cleaning & Sanitization

 

[jetmac]

Hi,I am lokesh.Conflicting information from well meaning friends is often confusing. Is it safe to use dish detergent? Should I boil nipples and bottles? How often should I do so? What about bleach? Is it a safe way to sanitize my baby's bottles and nipples? What are the dangers of not properly cleaning and sanitizing bottles?
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Cleaning & Sanitization

LOL!!

This is great. Looks like you did a search for cleaning your babies bottles and stumbled across info on how to clean beer bottles.

Holy thread resurrection Batman!!

 

[jetmac]

Hi,I am lokesh.Conflicting information from well meaning friends is often confusing. Is it safe to use dish detergent? Should I boil nipples and bottles? How often should I do so? What about bleach? Is it a safe way to sanitize my baby's bottles and nipples? What are the dangers of not properly cleaning and sanitizing bottles?
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Cleaning & Sanitization

If you must know..DON'T USE BLEACH!!!!

Clean the bottles and nipples with dish detergent then boil the nipples for at least 5 min.

IMHO the danger (if you want to call it that) is not killing the germs if you don't.
A babies immune system is not developed so they will get sick easily if exposed to germs, which can be dangerous.

 

[kapbrew13]

Hi,I am lokesh.Conflicting information from well meaning friends is often confusing. Is it safe to use dish detergent? Should I boil nipples and bottles? How often should I do so? What about bleach? Is it a safe way to sanitize my baby's bottles and nipples? What are the dangers of not properly cleaning and sanitizing bottles?
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Cleaning & Sanitization

Huh. Did I take a wrong turn into the baby formula making forums.

 

[jetmac]

And boil the bottles if you can.

 

[Revvy]

Guys, that's a troll spammer....and a dumb one at that. Probably a bot that just keyed in on some keywords, but man way to spam a 3 year old thread.

 

[RugerRedhawk]

buy a case of bottles and use bottle washer attached to the sink with hot water.. toss them in a bucket of star-san. use bottle washer again after a few minutes in star-san.. put them on the tree, then bottle... i use the blichmann beer gun. i will wash my bottles with hot water right after i pour them into the pint glass then store them and use the same process above on bottling day. i haven't used a bottle brush or the dishwasher in a year. never any problems

Wait, why rinse AFTER star san? That seems unnecessary, and if anything detrimental.

 

[Revvy]

star san sticks to the glass. thats how it works. you don't need all that foam in there.

You are seriously misinformed...

Most of the sanitzers we use, especially Starsan and iodophor are No rinse/wet contact sanitizers. They are literally double edged swords. They kill two ways. They kill everything on the object prior to sanitizing, and then as long as they are still wet they form a sanitizer barrier that kills everything that comes into contact with object.

If you let the sanitizer dry any micro organism that comes in contact with the sanitized object, rather than being killed by it, makes the object no longer sanitzed.

If you let it dry you are reducing it's efficacy by 50%

If you rinse it you are doing the same, PLUS running the risk of infecting from any contaminants in the water.

You really want to sanitize right at the time you are using the thing you are sanitizing. And let the wort/beer flow on top of it.

But the other thing, is that the "foam" in starsan breaks down in contact with the wort and beer, and becomes yeast food...it's actually really a good thing for your product to have that foam in there. It's your friend, it makes the yeast happy.

I put a lot of good info and tips of effectively using sanitizers in here. Including a podcast by the creator of starsan, talking about that and more-https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/

When folks say, don't fear the foam, we aren't saying "don't rinse it." Just rack on top....

It's also fun! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/stupid-starsan-tricks-why-you-shouldnt-fear-foam-127044/